Ridiculous review - and borderline racist comment comparing Moneypenny and Bond like that. Did he forget Bond fakes his death in a similar way in You Only Live Twice? Tomorrow Never Dies had a similar motorcycle chase/stunts. And Turkey isnt exactly a 3rd world country
Its fair enough if he didnt like it, but his reasons are shallow and ill informed. And the Shanghai fight is gorgeous - "anonymous backlit shadows"? Thats kinda the point! It was one of the best scenes in the film for me and beautifully shot!

Kyle Smith looks young - brought up on Bourne movies and expects realism. Really? I think he forgets the basic fact - that Bond is best when pure escapism. It works because of it.

His accusation that Eve Moneypenny 's character has been thrown in to contrast the white Bond actually irritates me. Foolish and vacuous comment.

Love the comments on that page. I don't think one person agrees with him. The guy is quite obviously a fan of Michael Bay and probably needs twenty explosions per reel just to feel like its money well spent.

I saw this yesterday and found if slow and plodding. I dodn't care about any of the characters including Bond himself.
The ending was predictable.

Usually I like the opening credits but these ones were dire and forgetable. As I don't listen to the charts I have no idea of anything else Adele has sung and I won't be going out to get any of her stuff. I think the song was bad as was she.
She got lucky getting this gig in the same way Sheena Easton, Duran Duran and A-ha did. Big (known-ish for Sheena) names at the time. if this had been released two or three years ago it would likely have been amy Winehouse who was the darling of the British music industry at the time.

The saving grace of this film was the stunning landscapes and horizon shots.

As usual the film ended saying "James Bond will return." Oh ok then, whatever! I won't be waiting escitedly for it to happen that's for sure.

Kyle Smith looks young - brought up on Bourne movies and expects realism. Really? I think he forgets the basic fact - that Bond is best when pure escapism. It works because of it.

His accusation that Eve Moneypenny 's character has been thrown in to contrast the white Bond actually irritates me. Foolish and vacuous comment.

His age means nothing as does the fact that he may have been brought up on Bourne. I'm guessing he has seen other older stuff on TV, DVD etc so can compare old and new.

I agree that Bons is bbest when pure escapism nad that is where things start going wrong. The escapism isn't there anymore. Trying to make it look more real life and possible they have killed what it was. Yes the gadget stuff of Moore's era was dumb but they were one of the things that made the film series escapist fun.

Whether he is right or wrong about Eve Moneypenny being there to balance the White Bond is correct, I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't too far off, after all did "M" need to be a woman for any other reason than to get another woman into the franchise and one that wasn't there for her looks?
If you go and look at this again take a moment to look at how many black people there are in it and while you are doing that look at how many significant female charcters there are excluding the returning Judy Dench.

He was also spot on about this

Spoiler

He survives the unsuvivorable.....he isn't superman.

From that moment on the film was lost as the guy is clearly immortal (unless he loses his head?) so he should have just stood in the middle of the house at the end when it explodes as he will at best get a scratch at worst a big bruise.

He wasnt spot on at all, a few times Bond has survived the "unsurvivable", look at You Only Live Twice, or even the first half of Die Another Day. If anything I think the mental and emotional (as well as physical) scars he bears are refreshing. No, he isnt Superman. And thats what's good.

I saw this yesterday and found if slow and plodding. I dodn't care about any of the characters including Bond himself.
The ending was predictable.

Usually I like the opening credits but these ones were dire and forgetable. As I don't listen to the charts I have no idea of anything else Adele has sung and I won't be going out to get any of her stuff. I think the song was bad as was she.
She got lucky getting this gig in the same way Sheena Easton, Duran Duran and A-ha did. Big (known-ish for Sheena) names at the time. if this had been released two or three years ago it would likely have been amy Winehouse who was the darling of the British music industry at the time.

The saving grace of this film was the stunning landscapes and horizon shots.

As usual the film ended saying "James Bond will return." Oh ok then, whatever! I won't be waiting escitedly for it to happen that's for sure.

Funny how opinions differ. I really really can't stand any Adele stuff, but actually really like the song she did for Skyfall and I thought the opening credits were one of the best in the whole series.

You mentioned about bond surviving. (I don't think it's a spoiler so won't put it in tags). He always survives everything. Some of the things in previous films are more far fetched. That's Bond. In fact that's any hero of any action film going and personally I don't think it's a valid criticism to level at Skyfall. Unless you level it at every Bond film and any action film ever made!

Whether he is right or wrong about Eve Moneypenny being there to balance the White Bond is correct, I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't too far off, after all did "M" need to be a woman for any other reason than to get another woman into the franchise and one that wasn't there for her looks?
If you go and look at this again take a moment to look at how many black people there are in it and while you are doing that look at how many significant female charcters there are excluding the returning Judy Dench.

I always thought the female `M` was brought in as a relflection of the times when the real MI5 was being headed by Stella Rimington.

It's been a funny old decade for Mr Bond, 10 years ago the 40th anniversary Bond movie Die Another Day saw the franchise not just shoot itself in the foot - it proceeded to chop the foot off and flush it down the toilet into a cesspit of effects-heavy and self-referential poop!
The reboot arrived with Casino Royale which surprised everyone by not just being commercially successful but critically successful too, it wasn't to everyone's tastes with its Bourne-a-like editing and lack of traditional elements but it gave the Bond slate a much needed wipe clean.......
Then Quantum Of Solace happened, the franchise dropped the ball again. Perhaps the success of Casino Royale was taken too much for granted and the reboot became a rebomb. Audiences were confused and genuinely let-down. To add insult to injury the MGM financial situation put Bond on the to-do list once again.

So we come full circle to the next big anniversary - the 50th - and anticipation has never been so high - which way will it go? Traditional or NuBond?

Why not both?

Skyfall, to put it as simply as possible gets it "right". There's an overall feeling that the Bond team have sat back and had a good honest think about what the audience wants......and that is something we usually can't have - the best of both worlds. I don't wish to blow my own trumpet but I knew from the moment I saw that Casino Royale was lacking many Bond elements that evenutally tradition would slowly work its way back in and the Bond franchise would be rebuilt from within.

Skyfall has a melancholic mood that drives the whole story forward, there are demons here that need to be faced. The past has to be dealt with and everything needs to move on, the whole movie IS the position the Bond franchise is in. Very brave of the team to more or less admit on screen that it is in a sense "now or never".

The core story is brilliantly easy to follow thus avoiding any alienation of the more casual Bond fan, what could be simpler than "they've got something we want, we need to get it back"?
There's minimal globe-trotting which for once is very welcome. Focussing on England and London comes across as a huge thank you to Bonds original audience and a great nod to 2012 which has been a Great British year.
Characters are clear and simple, their motives and allegiances are set out and never change - I don't know about you, but I tire of the "double-crossing" twists that plague many movies these days. Each character truly is part of the story and no one seems to be just dressing the set.

Action wise it's great and almost understated, the story really pushes the movie along - the action happens at the right time and never outstays its welcome. The pre-credits is a classic that nods to Octopussy and The Living Daylights without the need to hammer the point home. For me, the action highlight is the beautifully shot fight scene set against a neon-lit backdrop in Shanghai......less is indeed more.

Performances are spot on, the choice of actors over models and novelty-casting has paid off. Seeing the calibre of Ralph Fiennes and Naomie Harris certainly gives hope for the future. I was especially impressed by Berenice Marlohe as Severine, a relatively small role but non the less amazing. I don't think any Bond girl has been so dangerously, erotically enticing as her before - she was perfect.
Craig has really become Bond now, he's as intense as ever but seems more at ease with the role and his humour is certainly coming through.

So, I mentioned earlier "the best of both worlds" - this is the Bond that should in theory please everyone. There's lots in this film about old vs new and none of it's very subtle. Sam Mendes does a great job in pulling back on the much criticised Bourne style editing and direction, he makes it much more accessible to the wider audience. The scale of the whole thing seems to be kept on a much tighter rein with the previously mentioned Shanghai sequence the only exotic location that registers. The nods to old Bond are fantastic and very welcome, an obvious sign that producers value their core audience. The nods to future Bond are pleasing and demonstrate trust that the audience can handle changes.

Like all movies, look deeper and there are flaws and maybe the odd "as if" moment but when something is as stunning and well made as this they are forgivable and forgettable. If mistakes lead to the whole movie tripping up then I would take issue and question it (yes Prometheus I'm looking at you) but in this case it's all so skilfully handled you just go with the flow.

Of all the clichés in all the world "Bond is Back" is a very overused one but in this case it really is true. The last two Craig movies were kind of "Bond on loan", Skyfall cements the fact that Bond has done his time on the naughty step and he's accepted he needs to grow up.

All that's left is for us to enjoy him......again and again.

An excellent review. I just saw Skyfall tonight and will return with mine later.

Funny how opinions differ. I really really can't stand any Adele stuff, but actually really like the song she did for Skyfall and I thought the opening credits were one of the best in the whole series.

You mentioned about bond surviving. (I don't think it's a spoiler so won't put it in tags). He always survives everything. Some of the things in previous films are more far fetched. That's Bond. In fact that's any hero of any action film going and personally I don't think it's a valid criticism to level at Skyfall. Unless you level it at every Bond film and any action film ever made!

I think the difference is how he survives and the film as well.
Usually there is a "get out" which allows the hero to survive. Often it's laughably convenient. A building is about to blow up and there is no way that our hero can run fast enough to get clear. Oh what luck somebody who is working on the night shift has left their motorbike with the keys inside it so he/she can use that. Yay!
In the case of what happen in this film you don't have that get out clause.

Equally it depends on if you are saying this is supposedly "real" or if it's escapism and obviously stupid. One of the reasons The Expendables works so well is because it is a homage to the stupid OTT action films of the 1980's.
Rambo is stupid. Arnie films are stupid. At no point could anyone take them as being supposedly "realistic."

There is a line where you cross between an exagerated version of reality for the sake of the story and tipping over into stupidity and realism goes out of the window.
For example for the sake of the story I'm prepared to believe that the roads in central London are uncongested enough to have long car chases etc in films when in reality the roads are so congested it wouldn't happen. Half the day central London is almost in gridlock.

He wasnt spot on at all, a few times Bond has survived the "unsurvivable", look at You Only Live Twice, or even the first half of Die Another Day. If anything I think the mental and emotional (as well as physical) scars he bears are refreshing. No, he isnt Superman. And thats what's good.

I'm not a massive Bond fan who has seen the films lots of times so can't recall what things you are talking about, sorry.

Mental scars I'll go with but physical? Yes he gets wounds, cuts grazes etc, but when you think about what he survives I won't say and spoiler it, how did he look so good? Wouldn't a few scenes in montage of him in hospital recovering, maybe him limping when walking down the street and looking a bit rough at least to try to make it seem possible he survived but at a cost?